Friday, November 11, 2011

FFwD - Spiced Squash, Fennel and Pear Soup



On my walk into work from the station this morning, I saw the loveliest little girl walking with her Mum.  She had brown curls, the longest ever eyelashes, silver sandals, pink leggings trimmed with lace, a long white spaghetti strap dress trimmed with silver sequins, and a white T-shirt underneath, and she was twirling just like the dancing man.  It made me happy just to look at her carefree abandon, which was such a contrast to her well-dressed but harried-looking Mum beside her.

This week's French Friday with Dorie recipe allowed me to recycle ingredients from a couple of weeks ago when we made Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good.  Even using just half a pumpkin, I had a lot of pumpkin to use up, so I was delighted when I saw that this week's recipe, Spiced Squash, Fennel and Pear Soup, could also be made using pumpkin instead of squash.

This soup is really different to anything I have ever tried before.  It is quite thick, and has fruity, citrus overtones from the orange peel that you cook with the soup.  The spices give the soup a pleasant zing, and overall, it is a rather delicious soup:




This from a girl who isn't a huge fan of soup!

To check out what the other FFwD members thought of this soup, visit the LYL section of the website for this week.

19 comments:

Kayte said...

Well, as you know, I am a huge soup fan...this looks fabulous! I will be in charge of all things soup and you can be in charge of all things chocolate...unfortunately I won't do the chocolate as well as you do the soup!

Gloria Baker said...

I love soups and this look so nice Cake Law! gloria

Dressed and Eaten said...

Wow. What an interesting use of flavours. Fennel such a strong distinctive flavour. Interesting to see how it works with the pear. Not a big soup fan but this sounds great.

Cher Rockwell said...

I love it when you can dual-purpose ingredients. Glad you enjoyed.
There is something just magical about little girls of a certain age, isn't there? I remember when both my ladies were so young and carefree :-)

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

This soup sounds delicious! :) And the little girl also sounds quite special too!

Cakelaw said...

Dressed and Eaten, the fennel blends well - it is not overpowering.

Julia @Mélanger said...

Great sounding soup. I do love all those flavours and would never have thought of putting them together myself. But as I sit here in 30C temperature, may bookmark this for winter! :)

Anonymous said...

Your description of the little girl was a cute reminder that our seasons are heading in opposite directions. Ah to be wearing sandals instead of boots.

Happy to hear that you liked the soup.

Tasty Trix said...

I am a huge soup fan, but I wonder if I would find this too sweet? It looks good, though!

Anonymous said...

What a cute story! And your soup looks fantastic.

SoupAddict said...

Not a huge soup fan? [crushed] Glad you enjoyed this one, though. :)

Elaine said...

Your soup is such a lovely, dark color and I like that you can see the spices. We really enjoyed this one and how great that you got to use your leftover pumpkin.

Spike said...

looks like the perfect fall soup!

Amanda said...

This sounds like an unusual blend, but I love all those flavours so will give it a go. I've got a pumpkin quietly languishing in the pantry and I can always sell a pumpkin soup to the troops.

Kathy said...

Your story of the little girl twirling is so lovely. Oh, to be so carefree again! Your soup looks delicious! I also used pumpkin in mine. Have a nice weekend!

Unknown said...

That little girl sounds adorable! Makes. A bit rueful that mine is now 15 and although still beautiful, she's no longer so uninhibited. Happy to hear that your soup met your expectations too, love the darker hue given off by your spices!

Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...

I enjoyed this one much more than I expected! Yours has such a lovely, deep color from the pumpkin~

Betsy said...

I am a huge soup fan, making a pot almost every week now that it's cooler here. I love the dark color of your soup!
To be a young girl that can twirl whenever she wants again! What a lovely picture you painted.

Johanna GGG said...

this sounds amazing - just love soup and have made one or two with pear and fennel but never together